Bad Bath - Vacuum Flower | KR​-​016

Bad Bath, composed of members Dani Ferrara and Noah Chamberlain from Hardyston Township, New Jersey, released their mixtape Vacuum Flower | KR-016 on November 27th, 2021. Like other fuzzy lo-fi indie bands within the same scene, their music contained plenty of heart but little substance.

The best songs were those that masqueraded in the fuzz. The opener exceeds at inviting one in with its warm and luscious guitars. The accompanying snares were also both clean and charming. Despite being a lacklustre Velvet Underground cover, M-m-mind featured an enduring, slow drawn-out climax. Well... Swell... may be compositionally plain, but its ambience is alluring, as did You Don’t Owe Me. Highway Coyote strikes the perfect balance between laid-back rock and sophisticated noise – a true highlight.

Sadly, most of the album featured boring, stereotypical indie-rock compositions. Songs like How does it feel? To be alone?, Morphh, Am I Ok and I'm sick I wonder why are boring. Unlike the Savage Taterbug, a leader in the scene; there was very little outside the acoustics to draw one in. Sampling could have gone a long way here. The vocal performance alone leave something to be desired; the album is sadly missing a unique factor that makes it stand out.

The strength of the album lies in its feedback and ambience; though sadly there’s very little throughout Vacuum Flower | KR​-​016. It fluffs about too much for its own good; thankfully, its quite enjoyable. Too bad it’s lacking an identity of its own.

Average

Listen to it here:

https://keeperrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vacuum-flower-kr-016

Bad Bath - Vacuum Flower | KR​-​016